I came across some Swedish beer advertisements from the 1860s which I think are interesting. First one is from March 3rd 1861 (München's bryggeri was established in 1857 in Stockholm): "München's Bavarian Winter beer in full sized bottle for 18 öre and half bottle for 10 öre" Next one is from June 19th 1862 (May being the traditional start of the Bavarian summer beer/lager beer/Märzen season): "Carl G. Platin & Company respectfully inform, that from this day forward, out of our ice cellar, only so called BAVARIAN LAGER BEER will be supplied (not Winter beer, which is made weaker and less hopped) made by Beckman's Bryggeri-Bolag in Stockholm and of truly excellent quality. Gothenburg 19th of June 1862." Next is from May 28th 1864 (indicating that stocks for the summer were being held by them, and as we can see in the previous ad they owned an ice cellar, which was located in Gothenburg yet they brought in beer from Stockholm): "Bavarian beer of Stockholm Brewing-Company's make, new Summer stock, for wholesale and individual sales. Carl G. Platin & C: o" Next is an ad from 21st of December 1864 (advertising the location of a brewery as being located next to a prison is a nice touch): "Bavarian beer from München's bryggeri in Stockholm, newly produced, excellently good product (not as bitter as the Summerlager-beer), constant stock available at the brewery located right by the prison." Next up is from 26th of May 1869 (note that the advertiser, Hartzell, who was obviously a wholesaler of the brewery's beer, is the same as in the ad above): "Bavarian Summerlager-beer from München's Bryggeribolag in Stockholm's well known production, excellently good, is for sale" The distinction between summer and winter beer, the former being brewed stronger and more strongly hopped than the latter, can be seen here. Also the practise of selling the new lager beer in the summer months, whereas the winter beer is being sold in the winter months. All of which stemming from the Bavarian origins of these beers, even though Sweden didn't have legislation which dictated when beer could be brewed or sold. For the most part, as far as the historical sources can tell us at least, the beer was being sold mainly as Bavarian beer, with the distinction between summer and winter beer missing. This makes these advertisements different. To what degree this practise of distinguishing between summer and lager beer was being followed by Swedish breweres of Bavarian beer at large I couldn't say, perhaps there simply developed an understanding over time among consumers that the beer bought in the summer would be different from that bought in the winter, until developments in year round brewing made the distinction obsolete. We can compare and contrast these ads to one from 1843 from the first Swedish brewery which brewed Bavarian beer, Tyska Bryggeriet (The German Brewery): Then there is a later advertisement, and price list, from March 2nd 1844:
A couple of additional advertisements on the same topic. First one is from December 2nd 1868, so the time of year when the Bavarian winter beer/schenkbier (with skänköl being a direct translation, skänk=schenk) would be sold and the stores of lager beer/summer beer/Märzen beer had been exhausted in Bavaria. The second advertisement is from 18th of February of 1869. Again selling what one would interpret to be lager beer, alongside skänköl, at a time of year when only schenkbier/winterbier would be expected to be sold in Bavaria (lager beer season starting later with the arrival of May first). Note the reoccuring references to bottled beer in whole and half bottles, and cork stamps. The whole bottles held around 1 liter, or about 33.81 US oz, the half bottle being half that, or about 16.9oz, 50cl. While some beer was sold as cask beer most beer was sold in bottles, even early on. In a late 19th century (1890s) brewery advertisement this situation was explained thusly: Sweden in the 1800s was still a spirits drinking country and a country consisting mostly of peasants, with little in the way of disposable income for the average person (note also that the 1800s was also a time of large scale Swedish emigration to the US, in large part for economic reasons), even though the introduction of Bavarian beer led to a renaissance for Swedish beer brewing with hundreds of new breweries dotted across the country by the late 1800s. The per capita consumption of beer remained a fraction of that found in Germany.
